Burning Embers Part II: Conspiracy [Arc 6-10]

Arc 7 Chapter 6

3 years ago...

Today was a special day. Perhaps the most special day of her life so far. As she sat in the dressing room, her thoughts wandered over the events of the last two years. Since that fateful day Findaris had saved her life from the wyvern and then proceeded to tell her about his past, she had abandoned her mission, and they had grown much closer. Instead of staying cooped up in different rooms and only taking quests very rarely, they spent a lot more time together.

Going on many more quests than they used to, Findaris would now take low and mid-level assignments much more often, meaning they were completing at least one quest per fortnight. She was now level 41, which was apparently a high level, since levelling got much, much slower after level 30. Levels would grow linearly until a gap of ten levels, when the experience required per level would shoot up, and her stats had also slightly grown.

Other than going on quests though, they also spent time on recreational activities like shopping and dining together. The greatest step had been when Findaris had invited her to travel with him to Terysium and then Ariogow, which were her first two experiences in large human cities. Their third trip had been to the coastal city of Kherton, which was exactly where they were right now.

As for the purpose of the visit...well, it was embarrassing for her even to think about. Their relationship had been developing steadily since, and her feelings for him only grew as she learned more and more about him. He still treated her like a friend and companion though, so it had come to her as a great surprise when he had proposed to her the moment they arrived here a few days ago, catching her completely off-guard.

Maybe that's how males usually were? It wasn't like she had a great deal of experiences, but perhaps he was that sort of taciturn guy who would pretend not to like you but harbour feelings deep inside; she had read about it in one of the fictional stories back in her master's library. It was certainly strange, because he had been completely calm about it too while she became a blushing mess.

He had set it all up quite nicely; Kherton was a beautiful city full of fountains, and was well-known for that. It was said that the El Navia family that presided over the city had a great taste in beautiful architecture, explaining the beauty of this city which was rivalled only by the capital itself. Not only that, but it was a coastal city, and had plenty of white-sand beaches to complement the architecture, which mostly consisted of white, domed structures all over the city. Even the houses looked completely different compared to any she had seen in Ariogow and Terysium.

Another urban legend about this city, or perhaps it was a fact, was that it was a common place for couples to propose or go on their post-wedding holiday. Findaris had always come across as the sort of person who cared little for such things, but it seemed like she had underestimated him greatly. Not only had he been incredibly thoughtful about this, he had disguised his feelings completely, fooling her.

To think I was supposed to be a spy.

Right now, the reason for her being in the dressing room of this shop was quite simple; she was being prepared as a bride. All her life, she had been trained to fight, kill, and serve a purpose. Yet, since she had met him, she had lived the life of an ordinary person, an ordinary adventurer. Going on quests to earn levels and money, spending that on food, clothing and accessories, falling in love, and now getting married at the tender age of twenty.

Was this the life she had wanted to live all along? She wasn't sure, but it was certainly not the life she had ever imagined herself living. Yet, now here she sat as this hairdresser styled her hair, applied layers upon layers of makeup on her face and sought to make her look as "cute" as possible. Despite Kotori's protests to leave her hair untied, the woman had put them in a bun with it falling over the sides of her face right above her ears, a style she felt was suitable.